บท 28: Chapter 27: Dungeon (VI).
Chapter 27: Dungeon (VI).
The campfire continues to crackle, as the time in the dungeon passes.
"Slow down! You'll end up choking on that before you can enjoy some of the meat we have left." Being the considerate elf that he was, gave me a gourd that was full of clean water and I helped myself to it.
I ate almost ten of these skewers, Elre kept making and cooking some more for me.
"Pah…!" I let out a satisfied sound, holding the gourd. "I can't help it, when you've made them so tasty- my mouth just couldn't stop eating."
"Your flattery is a welcome human, my father has taught me many things as we lived in the dungeon. It's a big place, and we were able to rebuild our community through it." He finished making ten more meat skewers, placing them in the fire with a big smile on his face.
I drank from the gourd again but stopped after remembering that there's probably not going to be much water source that we can get water from here- "Hold on, where can we get some clean drinking water here? Can we drink our own water that we conjure up? Because we won't survive here with only just food."
"The water that you summon and cast with you is not a good reliable source of water to drink, but you can." (Elre) replies, taking back his now half empty gourd. "A natural source of water is still the best to drink."
"Yeah, but too bad- it won't be easy finding another water source in something like a dungeon." I complained, we can survive from monster meat but without water we'll be dead in around three days.
Elre sits down beside me, "I digress, even monsters need water. We'll just have to find it, our village has a natural source of water- it must be from outside and somehow managed to leak in."
"Oh- I guess monsters do need water." I'll take a look at the map and see if there's any. Without my phone and the map app here, I'll be lost and most likely be a rotting corpse by now.
"You know elves like us used to be lavish, we would feast almost every week- the finest meat and wine would be served." He takes a bite out of the night prowler meat looking so wistful and perhaps even a little sad. "Something like this wouldn't be enough back then but as the years pass we've grown and learned to appreciate simplicity. Learning how to be more grateful for our past resources."
"That's nice." I replied.
"Perhaps, that was the only good thing that came out of that massacre-" (Elre) slips and the moment the word massacre left his mouth he seemed troubled. "Nevermind, we should continue eating."
…
Silence engulfed us, he said masscare- I've gotten the short story of why they're here… but-
"If you don't mind, I want to learn about what happened to our people." I told Elre who couldn't look me in the eye.
Curiosity killed the cat, but in this case- I just want to get to know my new companion better.
"What do you mean by 'our people'?" He asks, looking a little hesitant.
"The humans and your elf tribe, what happened that made you run into the closed dungeon?" I continued.
He shudders and shakes his head, "...I don't know if I should tell you."
"Oh… if it's pretty sensitive I understand." I was about to drop the topic but he just sighs.
"No, it's just- you are not part of that horrible event and history. Perhaps if I ever tell you the story you might become burdened with guilt. No child ever deserves to feel like that." He scratches the side of his neck looking even more solemn.
The thing is- he doesn't know that I'm not a child.
"I will not be burdened, I just want to learn and possibly… if there came a future where the same problem arises I would want to know what to do. Honestly, I feel like the life ahead of me won't be a normal one." I know that based on the current position that I'm in.
Elre looked interested and so he laughed, perhaps at my reasoning.
"Hahaha… human, that much is impossible. I don't think we could ever befriend them for killing our tribe… But I'll humor you." We faced each other as he started telling me the story about what happened to his tribe.
"There once was a human noble who traveled to our lands, seeking for an alliance and supplies. We helped him out, gave him everything that he needed and in return he told all of his friends about our home. For a while, we had visitors every week. The trades were active and we thought this could be a new permanent alliance." He made a small hand gesture and soon a glowing sparkle of the wind was drawn with figures.
A small little elf, watching as the adults from both races shake their hands.
"Humans and the silver elf tribe, how a dream that could be." The magic drawings became even more detailed, soon the humans came delivering some goods- clothes, wood, stone and food.
Everything seemed so peaceful from how it was drawn through his magic.
"But that was it, it was all a dream."
A rush of the red color was now replaced, humans started attacking the elf village and the one leading them was at the center. "One day a woman with an unfathomable power was sent to kill us all, she was said to be a high ranking official or a skilled warrior."
A woman… skilled warrior… a high ranking official?
"Tch, it didn't matter- she didn't care one bit if the life she was ending was a child or an elder. No one was spared… even my mother." (Elre) smiles softly as the color red from his drawn magic now becomes a calm shade of blue.
A woman that resembled him started walking towards a small elf- that I assumed represented him. She started patting that small elf and kissed him by the forehead. "...I lost everything. My father and I- we only have each other now."
I stared at his drawings and admired the elf woman that I never knew, the woman who's behind this massacre should've paid. "That's awful."
"If only you've seen her, Francisca. That's not a human to us anymore, perhaps she's a monster in our eyes. We never got her name but her face was truly unforgettable."
"I hope that woman who was sent to go after you atoned for her sins and has been punished severely."
"Thank you for saying that. I truly hope she got a bit of karma after what they did to us." He shifted a bit closer to me and took a deep breath. "So that is my answer to your question, what about you-? Can I ask why you are training with the monks around these mountains?"
"If they realized that you were missing, I can only imagine the trouble you'll be getting from the head monk."
"Oh… that. I was brought here to be trained for magic control and my mom thought it would be better to learn some things on my own. I am sort of special after all… also you don't need to remind me of the trouble I'll be getting once I get back to the temple." I don't think I'll enjoy the scolding that I'll be getting from the head monk and Nuo Lian.
"That you are, I still cannot fathom how you have already grasped two elemental magic."
I shook my head slowly in reply and corrected Elre.
"It's… actually more than two." Well we're starting to get to know each other so might as well tell him a bit about myself.
He almost tumbled to the ground due to the shock, Elre gave me a ghast look asking- "What?!"
I held out my hand for him, I summoned a small ball of fire being surrounded by small earth particles going round and round in a circle. "I showed you my fire and earth magic… to me as long as I can imagine and know the chants- it won't matter what type of magic it is."
"I am able to copy and cast it, making it my own. Controlling them is something to master- but seeing that I'm still young I just need a bit of practice then you can call me the copy mage." He doesn't look too happy hearing that- still in shock he stares at my newly made combo spell.
"That's… unheard of! There have only been four elemental magic users, and some possess special genetic magic traits. One that runs in the family… but for a human to be able to copy any kind of magic and spell- are you able to master it at the first time?"
"Yes, I am able to but it really depends." Maybe I can't master some spells- I can't be too sure so I gave Elre a vague answer. Every spell so far I have managed to copy but who knows.
"The gods have blessed you too much. I believe it's rather unfair or you have done something in your past life that they gave you this much power."
"Hahaha- surely, you jest! I'm sure I've been just any normal living thing in my past life and wasn't a troublemaker or anything." The gods giving me an unfair power and advantage, it's exactly what happened. But, they made a mistake- they kept my past memories.
I took a look at [Map], seeing the red dots being so far away from us- roaming around slowly. They won't be disturbing our sleep at least.
"Anyways, thank you for the blanket. I'll take the second watch after, we won't be getting many monsters for a while trust me." I tell him rather confidently, and Elre seems to trust my words.
"Alright but I'll keep watch."
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